Paul Hollywood has turned down a lucrative offer from Channel 4 after choosing to stay with the home of The Great British Bake Off instead.

Paul pictured on The Great British Bake Off with Mary Berry (Picture: BBC)

Hollywood, who is widely considered to be the resident hunk on The Great British Bake Off, is believed to have signed a contract with the BBC worth £300,000.

The deal includes more series of GBBO, as well as his own solo venture, tentatively titled Paul Hollywood’s Bread and it is thought that Hollywood has turned down a lucrative offer from Channel 4 in order to stay with the BBC.

Channel 4’s Jay Hunt wanted to poach Hollywood, having already lured a host of stars from his old employer – the BBC – including Hilary Devey and Mary Portas .A BBC insider told the Mirror:’It’s fantastic that Paul is staying with the BBC, where he will not only be continuing in The Great British Bake Off, but will soon be appearing in a new series, a straight cookery show rather than a competition, called Paul Hollywood’s Bread.’Paul yesterday discussed his passion for bread-making as the new series was announced, saying: ‘I’ve been all over the country looking into the history of bread. I ended up concentrating on bread [in my career] because it was one of the hardest things to master. You’re harnessing an animal – yeast.’When you’re manipulating and kneading the dough, it’s such a release of stress. I’m paying for it now because I’ve got big problems with my neck and carpal tunnel syndrome in both my wrists.’